You May Never Eat Sugar Again After Watching This! | Dr. Robert Lustig
Summary
TLDRThis video script discusses the detrimental effects of high sugar consumption, comparing it to the damage caused by cyanide and alcohol. It explains how sugar poisons mitochondria, inhibits energy production, and contributes to chronic diseases. The script also highlights the prevalence of ultra-processed foods in diets and their negative impact on health, including hindered skeletal growth and promotion of cancer cell growth. The conversation emphasizes the importance of a real food diet to mitigate chronic diseases and the role of societal normalization in the rise of health issues.
Takeaways
- 🍬 Sugar is a major contributor to health issues, often referred to as the '2,000 pound gorilla' in our diet.
- 🚫 Trans fats, once considered the worst for health, are now largely removed from diets, with sugar taking their place as the primary dietary concern.
- 🔬 Sugar is shown to poison mitochondria, inhibiting their function in producing ATP, which is essential for cellular energy.
- 💣 Comparing sugar to cyanide, both inhibit mitochondrial function and ATP production, though sugar's effects are less immediate but still detrimental over time.
- 🍰 Ultra-processed foods, which contain high levels of sugar, make up a significant portion of diets, particularly in the UK where 56% of the diet is ultra-processed.
- 🌐 The prevalence of sugar in ultra-processed foods is a global issue, contributing to widespread health problems.
- 🔍 Studies show that ultra-processed foods lead to less energy expenditure and weight gain, even when controlling for other factors.
- 🦴 Recent research indicates that ultra-processed foods can inhibit skeletal growth and negatively impact bone health.
- 🌱 Sugar feeds cancer cells, hijacking growth processes and contributing to the development of the disease.
- 🚫 The speaker argues that ultra-processed foods do not meet the definition of food as they do not contribute to growth or burning (energy production) in the body.
- 🏠 The normalization of ultra-processed foods in society, including in schools and everyday life, is a significant factor in the rise of chronic diseases.
Q & A
What is the primary concern about sugar in our diet?
-Sugar is not the only problem in our diet, but it is a significant one, often referred to as the '2,000 pound gorilla.' It is particularly harmful due to its effects on the body, including poisoning mitochondria, inhibiting energy production, and contributing to chronic diseases.
Why were trans fats once considered the worst thing we consumed?
-Trans fats were considered the worst because they are indigestible by bacteria and our bodies, leading to their persistence in the body. This is similar to why sugar is harmful, as it also affects our mitochondria and overall health.
How does sugar affect the mitochondria?
-Sugar poisons the mitochondria by affecting three separate enzymes: AMP kinase, acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (long chain), and carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 (CPT-1). This inhibits the mitochondria's ability to produce ATP, the chemical energy our cells need.
What is the comparison made between sugar and cyanide in terms of their effects on the body?
-Both sugar and cyanide inhibit the mitochondria and reduce ATP production. While cyanide is more immediately lethal, sugar's effects are more gradual but can still contribute to poor health over time.
What is the percentage of the UK diet that is made up of ultra-processed foods?
-Ultra-processed foods make up 56% of the UK diet, indicating a significant reliance on these types of products.
How much of the sugar consumed by Brits is found in ultra-processed foods?
-62 percent of the sugar consumed by Brits is found in ultra-processed food categories.
What is the definition of food according to the speaker?
-The speaker refers to the definition of food as a 'substrate that contributes to either the growth or burning of an organism.'
Why does the speaker argue that ultra-processed foods do not contribute to burning or growth?
-Ultra-processed foods do not contribute to burning because they inhibit the body's energy production. They also do not contribute to growth, as they inhibit skeletal growth and can hijack growth processes to feed cancer cells.
What was the impact of the McGovern commission's report on the food industry?
-The McGovern commission's report recommended eating less fat to prevent cardiovascular disease. In response, the food industry replaced fat with sugar, leading to an increase in sugar consumption and the prevalence of ultra-processed foods.
Is sugar inherently bad, or is it the excess amounts that are problematic?
-Sugar is problematic in both its inherent properties and in excess amounts. It causes similar damage to the liver as alcohol and contributes to insulin resistance and various chronic diseases when consumed in excess.
How does the speaker describe the change in sugar consumption from his childhood to the present?
-The speaker describes a significant increase in sugar consumption, from a once-a-week treat of a small amount of Coca-Cola to children today consuming about 35 ounces of sugar daily.
Outlines
🍬 The Negative Impact of High Sugar Consumption
This paragraph discusses the detrimental effects of consuming high levels of sugar, emphasizing that sugar is a major problem in our diet, not the only one. It highlights how sugar, like trans fats, is harmful due to its inability to be processed by our mitochondria, which are essentially energy-burning factories in our cells. The speaker explains that sugar poisons the mitochondria, inhibiting the production of ATP, the chemical energy our cells need. This is compared to the effects of cyanide, which also inhibits mitochondrial function. The paragraph also touches on the prevalence of sugar in ultra-processed foods, which make up a significant portion of the UK diet, and questions whether these foods can truly be considered 'food' given their negative effects on health.
🌱 The Definition and Impact of Ultra-Processed Foods
The speaker challenges the definition of food as a substrate that contributes to growth or burning of an organism, arguing that ultra-processed foods, particularly those high in sugar, do not meet this criterion. They inhibit the burning of an organism by poisoning mitochondria and also inhibit growth, as evidenced by recent studies showing that such foods hinder skeletal growth. The paragraph also mentions how sugar feeds cancer cells, further questioning the classification of ultra-processed foods as 'food'. The speaker emphasizes the normalization of ultra-processed foods in society and their contribution to the rise in chronic diseases, suggesting that a shift towards a real food diet could mitigate these health issues.
🥤 The Evolution of Sugar Consumption and Its Consequences
This paragraph delves into the historical context of sugar consumption, starting with the speaker's personal experience of consuming a small amount of sugar once a week as a child. It contrasts this with the current situation where children consume significantly more sugar daily. The speaker discusses the introduction of processed foods like Swanson TV dinners in the 1960s and the subsequent increase in sugar consumption with the substitution of high fructose corn syrup for sucrose in the 1970s. The paragraph also highlights the impact of dietary guidelines that led to the reduction of fat in foods, which was compensated by increasing sugar content. The speaker argues that both the inherent nature of sugar and its excessive consumption are problematic, drawing parallels with alcohol consumption and its effects on the liver.
🍺 The Dose-Dependent Effects of Sugar on Health
The final paragraph focuses on the dose-dependent nature of sugar consumption and its impact on health. It explains that a small amount of sugar can be metabolized by the intestine and converted into fat, protecting the liver from damage. However, when sugar intake exceeds the intestine's capacity, the liver becomes the primary site of metabolism, leading to glycation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and insulin resistance. These processes are linked to a range of chronic diseases, including Alzheimer's, heart disease, and cancer. The speaker emphasizes that the effects of sugar are similar to those of alcohol, highlighting the importance of moderation in sugar consumption to prevent chronic diseases.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sugar
💡Mitochondria
💡AMP Kinase
💡Trans Fats
💡Ultra-Processed Foods
💡ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate)
💡Cyanide
💡Growth
💡First Pass Effect
💡Insulin Resistance
💡Dose-Dependent Phenomenon
Highlights
Sugar is not the only problem in our diet, but it's the most significant one.
Trans fats were once considered the worst for health, but sugar has now taken that position.
Sugar is likened to a 'poison' for mitochondria, impacting three key enzymes necessary for energy production.
Consuming sugar inhibits the body's energy production by reducing ATP, similar to the effect of cyanide.
Ultra-processed foods make up a significant portion of the UK diet and are high in sugar.
Ultra-processed foods do not contribute to the burning or growth of an organism, contrary to the definition of food.
Studies show that ultra-processed foods lead to less energy expenditure and weight gain.
Sugar feeds cancer cells and inhibits or hijacks growth, rather than contributing positively.
The normalization of ultra-processed food has led to a shift from traditional, real food diets.
The food industry's replacement of fat with sugar in products has contributed to health issues.
Excess sugar consumption is compared to alcoholism, where the liver becomes the target for damage.
The first pass effect of sugar in the intestine helps protect the liver from immediate damage.
Overconsumption of sugar leads to liver issues similar to those caused by alcohol abuse.
The rise in insulin levels due to sugar consumption is linked to various chronic diseases.
The conversation challenges the notion that sugar is fine in small amounts, emphasizing the dose-dependent effect on health.
The shift from traditional diets to ultra-processed foods began in the mid-60s with the introduction of TV dinners.
The substitution of high fructose corn syrup for sucrose and the push for low-fat diets have exacerbated sugar-related health issues.
The normalization of sugar consumption in society contrasts with the individual experiences of reduced sugar intake in the past.
Transcripts
what are the key negatives when we
consume the levels of sugar that many of
us are currently consuming
well first of all let's make it very
clear that sugar is not the only problem
in our diet
it's the big one it's the 2 000 pound
gorilla in our diet but there's other
stuff too but sugar is a particularly
egregious molecule Once Upon a Time
trans fats were the worst thing we
consumed trans fats are the devil
incarnate trans fats the bacteria can't
chew it up which is why they put the
trans fats in right so that you know it
would last forever you know the 10 year
old Twinkie well the fact is our
mitochondria our little energy burning
factories inside all our cells are
really refurbished bacteria we can't
chew it up either so the exact same
reason for why they put the trans fats
in the food is exactly why you shouldn't
eat the food
now we know that and they've come out of
our diet so now sugar is Public Enemy
Number One so what does sugar do
and the answer is a whole bunch of bad
things
the food industry says sugars energy
well
they're correct
if you're a bomb calorimeter
if you just blow it up if you explode it
yeah you get four calories per gram
but we are not bombed calorimeters turns
out that Sugar actually poisons the
mitochondria
okay it poisons it in three separate
enzymes that are necessary for
mitochondria to do their job
the first one amp kinase which is the
fuel gauge on the liver cell
the second one a cat L acylcoide
dehydrogenase long chain which is
necessary to get fatty acids into the
mitochondria to be able to oxidize them
to create energy and the third one is
cpt-1 carnitine Palmetto wall
transferase one which is the enzyme that
regenerates carnitine which is the
shuttle mechanism that brings the fatty
acids into the mitochondria in the first
place in other words
when you consume sugar you are poisoning
your mitochondria you are generating
less of the chemical energy that our
cells get powered by called ATP
so if you're making less ATP
is that energy
it's the opposite of energy
so when you consume sugar you are
actually inhibiting your body's energy
production can you think of a chemical
that inhibits your mitochondria and
reduces ATP production cyanide cyanide
cyanide cyanide does that
okay sugar and cyanide
do the same thing now obviously
not as severely okay you know cyanide
parts per million Keel over and die on
the spot with sugar you know it's in the
parts per thousand and you don't Keel
over on the spot but you feel lousy and
over time it's going to take its toll
But ultimately if you're inhibiting your
mitochondria you are poisoning your body
and we now have the data to show how
that occurs
so here's my question to you and your
audience
sugar is in virtually all Ultra
processed foods an ultra processed foods
are now 56 of the UK diet and the amount
of sugar that Brits eat 62 percent of it
is found in the ultra processed food
category wow
so my question to you and your audience
is is ultra processed food
my view
is that it's not really
I would say no but I know to many people
that is super controversial
um which we're definitely going to talk
about but yeah on a straight answer I
would say no depends on your definition
I guess because it's energy it's got
some calories in it which we consume in
our
mouth that enable us on one level to to
sort of I guess you're saying it's
actually reducing the energy production
the sugar within it anyway but yeah on
one level it sustains people and they
can actually get on with their days at
least in the short term anyway
well you have to know what the
definition of food is
so if I if I had my Webster's Dictionary
right here right now
um you guys you know in the UK probably
don't use Webster's you probably have
something else but if I pulled it off
the shelf it would say that the
definition of food is the following and
I have no problem with this definition
substrate that contributes to either the
growth or burning of an organism
that's the definition I have no problem
with that definition it's a fine
definition all right substrate that
contributes to either the growth or
burning of an organism
so we've just talked about burning
sugar does not contribute
to the burning of an organism it
actually inhibits the burning of an
organism and Dr Kevin Hall at the NIH
did a study where he showed that when
you give people Ultra processed food
they burn less and gain more weight when
everything else is controlled for
compared to the same diet in real food
did this in 2019.
so
Ultra processed food does not contribute
to burning
so now let's go to growth
this is ultra processed food contribute
to growth my colleague Dr frat Monson
Eagle ornan who is the chairman of the
Department of nutrition at Hebrew
University Jerusalem
uh just published three papers in bone
research showing that Ultra processed
food actually inhibits skeletal growth
inhibits the ability of Bones to
increase in length and in widths and in
addition we know from the nutrinessante
study and many other studies that in
fact what sugar does is it feeds cancer
cells that hijacks growth
so
sugar
doesn't contribute to burning inhibits
it
doesn't contribute to uh growth inhibits
it or hijacks it
so I pose the question to you again
runga is ultra processed food
food
I'll go with my original answer which is
no
that is right it is no ding ding that's
right but the point is that the food
industry you know refuses to go there
the populace refuses to go there the
government's refuse to go there
and you and I are both interested in
mitigating chronic disease and you are
right if you get people on a real food
diet you can mitigate virtually any and
all of their chronic diseases I
completely agree you give a tedx talk
basically saying you can basically take
away somebody's chronic disease I used
to do that in my clinic you know when I
was practicing routinely yeah
but only if they change the food
and if they didn't change the food no
amount of medicine and I threw at them
could make a difference yeah I mean what
strikes me
as a really key message is that the
majority of what we're buying to feed
ourselves and our families
is ultra processed food whether it's
here in the UK or with you in America
and that is contributing to this tsunami
of chronic ill health that we're seeing
it's pretty
you know it's pretty alarming about what
I think is so key Rob for me is that
it's so normalized now like it's the
norm everywhere schools hustles in fact
if you want to go down the real food
routes you almost feel like a better fur
like you know if you try to do it with
your kids you actually become a social
outcast in in some ways it's yeah and I
think this is the problem it's just it's
the norm we've moved so far away from
what we used to do in fact maybe this is
a good time for you to explain what you
used to do when you were eight years old
because I believe you had a Granddad who
lived in Brooklyn and every Saturday you
would do something which I think
beautifully illustrates as points that's
right so yeah
um uh bottom line is I completely agree
with you what we've done is we've
normalized it once upon a time it was
actually not normal to eat Ultra
processed food and today it is normal
and I remember when that happened
because it happened to me it happened to
me in two ways so on Saturday afternoons
my family would go visit my grandparents
who lived about oh I don't know eight
miles away in Brooklyn and my
grandfather would walk me down to the
corner uh grocery store to buy a comic
book and a six and a half ounce bottle
of Coca-Cola I remember you know pretty
much every Saturday afternoon and that
was the big treat you know the comic
book and the Coca-Cola that was on Ocean
Avenue and Avenue N in Brooklyn
um you know the fact is that that was
once a week and it was six and a half
ounces
all right today
you know children are consuming about I
think 35 ounces a day
um you know uh median so they are
getting about six times the amount of
sugar that I did from that one Coke and
they're doing it every day instead of
once a week
I mean let's just can we just pause on
that for a second you're saying you had
six ounces once a week and we're
assuming back then that the rest of your
diet throughout the week was low in
sugar low in processed foods sort of a
real food diets well my mother worked
three jobs
and so I ate a lot of Swanson TV dinners
when they first came out and I remember
when they came out around 1964.
you know the fried chicken the Salisbury
steak I hated that salisbury steak and I
actually she trained me on how to turn
the oven on and how to heat them up
because often she wasn't home at night
you know so you know to some extent I
was a latchkey kid because my mother
worked so hard you know my father was in
Manhattan all day and so you know I
basically had it sort of take care of
myself
and sometimes I had to eat dinner you
know out of the freezer
and so I remember you know those Swanson
TV dinners and you know they they were a
problem there's still a problem
um so you put the two together
and that was the beginning of you know
the uh shall we say onslaught of
processed food in the United States
about the mid 60s
um then things picked up even more in
1975 when we started uh substituting
high fructose corn syrup for sucrose
because it was half as uh expensive and
it was homegrown and then finally the
fiesta resistance came in 1977 when uh
the McGovern commission released its
report saying that we all needed to eat
less fat to try to prevent
cardiovascular disease well when you
take the fat out of food it tastes like
cardboard and so what did the food
industry do it basically replaced the
fat with sugar
that's why we ended up with Entenmann's
fat-free cakes and you know and the like
and that was when the pasta craze you
know first hit was you know refined
carbohydrate because it was quote low in
fat Etc and you know Now We're Off to
the Races
and it's just exploded ever since
is it the sugar that's inherently bad in
and of itself or is it the excess
amounts I mean or is it both right
because I think a lot of people might
say well look
you know what this never used to be a
problem right and we we would have the
odd sweet treat now and again
um but so and actually there's quite
there's quite a few prominent scientists
as you're you're well we say actually
Sugar's not a problem Sugar's actually
completely fine I'm working on it we're
working on it I I have a bone to pick
with some of those scientists and we can
argue that and talk about that if you
like
um as to exactly why they say what they
say so here here's what I can tell you
hi
there are
social drinkers
and there are alcoholics
now social drinkers can pick up a beer
and put it down
and they don't need one every day
alcoholics pick up a whiskey and can't
put it down
and they need it three times a day
right yeah
did the one beer that the social Drinker
drink
hurt them
unlikely unlikely unlikely and the
reason it's unlikely is because
there is a what is known as a first pass
effect
you drink the alcohol in the beer first
of all it's very low percentage right
it's only about 3.6 percent in an um in
a in a beer all right and that uh is
about oh 60 calories Worth or so of of
alcohol and what happens is that the
first pass effect the stomach and
intestine metabolize that alcohol
before any of it ever gets to the liver
and so the amount that actually hits the
liver that could do damage is
exceedingly small
and as long as you're not following up
with a second beer and a third beer and
a fourth beer and a fifth beer you know
like can happen at the Newcastle Pub you
know you don't usually have a big
problem
right but if you keep doing that then
that is a problem so it's a dose
dependent phenomenon
and
um your intestine is there to try to
protect your liver
from getting the onslaught
before it will do damage
same with sugar
no difference
so your intestine can take
a small amount of sugar that you consume
and can actually turn it into fat in the
intestine intestinal de novo lipogenesis
the process of converting sugar to fat
into vldl in the intestine so that it
will not go straight to your liver
right
and about 10 percent of the of an
initial sugar bolus will undergo
intestinal DNL and therefore be diverted
away from the liver and into the
bloodstream as vldl now that vldl is not
great for you because it could
ultimately cause heart disease but it's
protecting the liver
but if you consume past your intestines
capacity to do that
now the rest of it's going to end up in
your liver and the problem with sugar in
the liver is exactly the same as the
problem of alcohol in the liver because
it causes the exact same processes it
causes glycation it causes oxidative
stress it causes mitochondrial
dysfunction and basically drives insulin
resistance this phenomenon that we now
know is at the base of virtually all
chronic metabolic diseases
Therefore your pancreas has to make
extra insulin to make the liver do its
job because now the liver is not working
right because it's been poisoned
and so insulin levels rise all over the
body and now you've got
you know the risk for Alzheimer's you've
got the risk for heart disease you've
got the risk for for cancer you've got
the risk for virtually every other
chronic metabolic disease on the plate
all because of what happened to your
liver yeah and fructose that sweet
molecule and sugar
basically has the same fate as alcohol
so when people say oh you know little
Sugar's fine let me guess there's um
yeah because your intestine diverts that
little bit away from the liver as soon
as you overwhelm that capacity now your
liver is right in the crosshairs
and that's when chronic disease is going
to start if you enjoyed fat clip here's
another powerful clip that I think you
are really going to enjoy
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